● DAICHI / Tango Kuroneko

Written as a theme music for Monthly DAICHI Music Webzine, the tune inspired Tango Kuroneko's friend musicians to create new music for the future generations.

● Iran - In Quest of Poetry, Music, Love and Prayers I / Tango Kuroneko

Tango Kuroneko visited Iran for the first time on occasion of Idaki Shin's "Dialogue Among Civilizations" concert at Persepolis in October, 2004. He wrote music inspired by the trip at that time and movie was made in collaboration with Masahiro Takuma's pictures and Izumo Yorimichi's poems. In Part I, he expresses the joy, astonishment and impression he felt in Isfahan and Shiraz.

● Iran - In Quest of Poetry, Music, Love and Prayers II / Tango Kuroneko


In the first part of Part II, Tango Kuroneko expresses the travel in the desert land from Shiraz to Yazd. Then the marvelous heritage of Naqshe Rostam and Persepolis. And finally he thanks the Iranian people he met in "Hoda Hafez." or "May the God Be with You" in Persian.

● Plum Blossoms Remember / Tango Kuroneko

In spring 2005, Tango Kuroneko visited Yoshino Baigo, an eastern suburb of Tokyo famous for a lot of beautiful plum trees. He wrote this tune inspired by the trip at that time and Sugawara-no Michizane's famous death song:

When the east wind blows,
Plum blossoms, remember please
To Bring spring, let flow
Your fragrance in the sweet breeze
Though I might be 'way from home.

● Kokiriko Song / Tango Kuroneko

"Kokiriko Song" is a famous folk song in Toyama, in the middle part of Japan in the face of Japan Sea. Though this song was sung in the mountainous region, Tango Kuroneko blended the ocean waves with this song, remembering the people coming across the sea from Korean Peninsula a long time ago.

● Wind from the East / Tango Kuroneko

The music begins with Japanese "gagaku" court music, then the West Asian feeling is added and finally European musical instruments join and the music gets so hot! As the music can be mixed irrespective of national and ethnic boundaries, may all the world live as one in peace.

● A Passage to Kumano / HIRO

The pilgrimage routes to Kumano shrines in the central Japan were registered as World Heritage in 2004. HIRO visited there in 2003 and was inspired to write this tune.

"As I walked the path in the mountain, I felt like seeing people in the old days, men and women, young and old, walking along with me. Many people, generations by generations, made pilgrimage in quest of peace and happiness, the truth of life." (HIRO)

● Seaside Bossa Nova / HIRO

"When I walked along the shores near Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania in 2003, a fresh breeze from the Indian Ocean caressed me and swept away all the dust and dirt within me. I wrote this tune expressing the refreshing and happy feeling I had then on a sweet bossa nova. (Well it was as if the breeze said to me, "It's alright. Just the way you are!")" (HIRO)

● Hidamari / HIRO

"Hidamari" is a Japanese word for a "suntrap," or a sunny place. HIRO's piano reminds me of a happy moments of lazy afternoon, spending time seeing the clouds slowly drifting away. (Editor)

● Old Stories / HIRO

"When I visited Persepolis in 2004, I wondered: "What in the world happened here?" "Why did this magnificent and splendid palaces have to perish?" "Is it a human nature to repeat creation and destruction?" I express the deep emptiness and sorrow I felt then on a minor bossa nova." (HIRO)

● Sunset / HIRO

"From the hill near my home, I can see the beautiful scenery of Set Inland Sea. Sometimes I can see the sun go down slowly into the calm water. The color of the sky changes minute by minute. A flock of birds fly away home. Slowly, and slowly does the sun go down and finally hides away into the sea." (HIRO)

● Muses / COSMO

Muses are, of course, 9 daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne. As the word "music" is derived from thier name, they are the deities of various arts. Their singing voices enchanted every living thing on earth and even stars and heavens. COSMO depict a mythic world of love beyond time and space.

● Mithra's Harp / COSMO

Mithra is originally a Indian and Persian deity of friendship, contract and justice. COSMO expresses this god here as a friendly one letting people know each other and making them friends with each other.

● Autumn in the City / COSMO

COSMO dedicated this song to fathers. The song is about the memory of her father when she went for a walk in autumn. As a child, she was always happy, never feeling fear or anxiety. It is because, as she recalls, her father was there all the time, protecting her from all the bad and evil things.

● Uzume Variations - Spring Fest / COSMO

This tune is one of COSMO's "Uzume Variations" series, expressing Ameno Uzume. Ameno Uzume is a goddess of old Japanese myth, well-known as the founder of music and dance. She is also a symbol of happy woman. COSMO expresses happiness of being a woman through Uzume's graceful dance at a spring fest.

● Spell of Love / COSMO

This song begins with a strange phrase! According to COSMO, it is a spell by which you can call Gigeiten, a goddess of arts. At first, COSMO used this spell wishing her concert would be a great success, but, because all kinds of art is born from love, she expected the spell would work on love as well! That's how she wrote her "Spell of Love."

● Primal Dance / Toshiyuki Sekine

Sekine's dance music with fusion feelings. Yes, we were born to dance, born to express our feelings with dance. There is nothing to think about how to move. Just leave yourself to the body moving naturally. Just dance!

● Hietsuki Song / Toshiyuki Sekine

Ayumi Kawano is a singer in Toshiyuki Sekine's Nippon Soul Jazz Band. "Hietsuki Song" is originally an old folk song in Miyazaki in Kyushu Island, Japan, which is her birthplace. In this arrangement, Sekine plays this song with jazz feelings.

● Inner Voices / Toshiyuki Sekine

Sekine's cool and aggressive piece with urban feelings. Be all ears to how he is rhythming on the piano! That's marvelous.

● WSD ST THEME / Toshiyuki Sekine

What is "WSD ST?" At first sight, this title gave me a futuristic image, a kind of code or the name of the unit of space station or something. In fact, this means Waseda Street, which assocites Sekine with his younger days with music. Yes, this music sounds to me his homage to jazz in good old days.

● Vento de maio / Toshiyuki Sekine

Toshiyuki Sekine's very beautiful and soothing bossa nova. Singer Ayumi Kawano adds a very mystic feeling to the music. I love this tune very much and think it as Toshiyuki Sekine's theme music.

● DAICHI / Tango Kuroneko

The word "daichi (the earth)" reminds the editor Masahiro Takuma of the magnificent scenary of the Rift Valley in Ethiopia he visited in 2001. Based on the picutres he took there, Tango Kuroneko wrote a theme music of DAICHI Music Webzine, celebrating its publication. Now let us begin the new DAICHI webzine with this tune. You can enjoy Shockwave movie where the music and the pictures are beautifully blended.

● Little Mona / Toshiyuki Sekine

This is a very romantic jazz waltz by Toshiyuki Sekine, one of the most famous Japanese pianist who played with Miroslav Vitous and Nana Vasconcelos in George Ohtsuka Band.

● Samba Musa / COSMO

COSMO is a healing musician, aiming to unite the universe (Cosmic Arts), human body (Cosmic Reme) and human spirit (Cosmic Muse) at her workshop COSMIC ARM. In this issue, she makes us happy by her favourite Latin music.

● A Passage to Kumano / HIRO

The pilgrimage routes to Kumano shrines in the central Japan were registered as World Heritage in 2004. HIRO visited there in 2003 and was inspired to write this tune.

"As I walked the path in the mountain, I felt like seeing people in the old days, men and women, young and old, walking along with me. Many people, generations by generations, made pilgrimage in quest of peace and happiness, the truth of life." (HIRO)

● HANABI / Tango Kuroneko

This piece was written inspired by the Fireworks Festival at the Tamagawa riverside in Tokyo in summer 2004 and another collaboration with Masahiro Takuma's photography. "Hanabi" is a Japanese word for "fireworks" and the Japanese people enjoy fireworks in the hottest season of the year because the beauty and loudness of fireworks are believed to cool down the heat. :-)